History of esotericism
From Hermes Trismegistus to the twentieth century: masters, schools and currents.
Ancient Gnosis and the Nag Hammadi Codices: What We Know
What ancient Gnosticism was: Valentinus and Basilides, the Demiurge and the Pleroma, the Church Fathers and the 1945 discovery of the Nag Hammadi codices.
Helena Blavatsky and the Theosophical Society: a History
The Theosophical Society from its 1875 founding in New York: Blavatsky and Olcott, Isis Unveiled, Adyar, the Hodgson report and The Secret Doctrine.
Cagliostro and the Egyptian Rite: the Story of the Palermo Count
Who Cagliostro really was: Giuseppe Balsamo of Palermo, the Egyptian Rite, the Diamond Necklace affair, his Roman trial and death at San Leo.
Isaac Casaubon and the 1614 Dating of the Hermetic Texts
How the philologist Isaac Casaubon showed in 1614 that the Corpus Hermeticum was not truly ancient, his evidence and how Hermeticists reacted.
Cornelius Agrippa and De occulta philosophia: a Book's History
Heinrich Cornelius Agrippa: the 1510 draft, the three-book edition of 1533, his Italian years, his scepticism and the legends about the magus.
Aleister Crowley and Thelema: History from Cairo to Cefalù
Crowley and Thelema in historical terms: the Golden Dawn, the Liber AL written in Cairo in 1904, the A∴A∴, the O.T.O. and the Abbey at Cefalù.
Ernesto de Martino: Southern Italian Magic and Tarantism
How Ernesto de Martino studied magic in southern Italy: The World of Magic, Sud e magia in Lucania and The Land of Remorse on Salento tarantism.
The Eleusinian Mysteries: the Initiatory Cult of Demeter and Kore
A history of the Eleusinian Mysteries: the myth of Demeter and Kore, the Lesser and Greater Mysteries, the priests, the secret and the site's end.
Eliphas Lévi and the Birth of Modern Occultism
Alphonse-Louis Constant, alias Eliphas Lévi: from seminary to socialism, Dogma and Ritual of High Magic, the astral light and his successors.
Esoteric Freemasonry in the 1700s: High Degrees and Rites
How eighteenth-century Freemasonry opened to esotericism: Ramsay, Templar Strict Observance, Willermoz, the Elus Coëns and the Convent of Wilhelmsbad.
Giordano Bruno: the Art of Memory, Magic and an Infinite Universe
Giordano Bruno of Nola: travels across Europe, the art of memory, his works on magic, the infinite universe, his trial and execution in 1600.
The Golden Dawn: History of a Victorian Hermetic Order
The Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn: the Cipher Manuscripts, Westcott and Mathers, the Second Order, Yeats and Florence Farr, the 1900 schism.
The Origins of Alchemy: Greco-Roman Egypt and Zosimos
Where alchemy began: the Leiden and Stockholm papyri, Bolus of Mendes, Mary the Jewess, the visions of Zosimos of Panopolis and Byzantine copies.
Hermes Trismegistus and the Corpus Hermeticum: Origins and Legacy
Who Hermes Trismegistus was, what the Corpus Hermeticum contains, when it was written and how Ficino's 1463 translation made it central to the Renaissance.
Iamblichus and Theurgy: When Neoplatonism Becomes Ritual
Iamblichus of Chalcis and Neoplatonic theurgy: De mysteriis, his reply to Porphyry, the Chaldean Oracles and ritual as the soul's way upward.
Italian Esotericism in the 1900s: Kremmerz, Reghini, Ur
Italian esoteric currents of the early 1900s: Kremmerz and the Brotherhood of Myriam, Reghini and Pythagoreanism, the Roman journals Ur and Krur.
Marsilio Ficino and the Platonic Academy of Careggi
Marsilio Ficino between Cosimo de' Medici and Careggi: his Plato and Hermes translations, the Platonic Theology, De vita and prisca theologia.
Medieval Alchemy: from the Arabic World to Latin Europe
How alchemy passed from Arabic authors to Europe: the Jabirian corpus, al-Razi, Robert of Chester's translation, Geber's Summa and medieval controversies.
The Mystery Cults of Isis and Mithras in the Roman Empire
How the cults of Isis and Mithras spread in the Roman world: Lucius's initiation in Apuleius, the Pompeii Iseum, the mithraea and seven grades.
Paracelsus: Alchemy, Natural Philosophy and Elemental Spirits
Life and ideas of Paracelsus: his break with Galen, the three principles of sulphur, mercury and salt, the Archeus and the elemental spirits.
Pico della Mirandola and the Birth of Christian Kabbalah
Pico della Mirandola, his 900 theses of 1486, the Oration on human dignity, the 1487 papal condemnation and the birth of Christian Kabbalah.
Plotinus and Neoplatonism: the One, the Intellect and the Soul
Life and thought of Plotinus, founder of Neoplatonism: the Enneads edited by Porphyry, the three hypostases, the return to the One and his mystical legacy.
Pythagoras and the Pythagorean School of Croton: Number and Soul
The Pythagorean community of Croton between history and legend: rules of life, transmigration of the soul, numerical harmony and its Magna Graecia legacy.
The Rosicrucian Manifestos: Fama, Confessio, Chemical Wedding
The story of the Rosicrucian manifestos: Fama Fraternitatis (1614), Confessio (1615), Chemical Wedding (1616), the Rosenkreutz legend and Andreae's role.
Sicilian Folk Magic: Donne di Fora, Ciarauli, Inquisition
Folk magic in Sicily: the donne di fora in Inquisition trials, the Steri in Palermo, the ciarauli, charms against the evil eye and Pitrè's work.